TO:Andrew P. Powers, City Manager
FROM:Nader Heydari, Public Works Director
DATE:June 23, 2026
SUBJECT: East County Transit Alliance Budget Adjustment FY 2025-26 RECOMMENDATION:
1. Approve budget appropriation and authorize expenditure for FY 2025-26 in the amount of $94,000 from A/C #121-0000-311-1000 (East County Transit Alliance Fund - Fund Balance) to A/C #121-5550-634-5650 (East County Transit Fund - Contracted Services, Private).
2. Find that this action is not a project as defined under the California Environmental Quality Act.
LEVINE ACT ITEM: No
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
$94,000 Increase to Adopted FY 2025-26 East County Transit Alliance Fund.
A $94,000 increase to the Adopted FY 2025-26 East County Transit Alliance Fund is requested to fully fund contracted paratransit operating costs driven by higher than budgeted ridership demand and associated revenue hour service levels.
BACKGROUND:
In 2015, East County Transit Alliance (ECTA) was formed as a partnership among the cities of Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, Camarillo, and Moorpark to support coordinated public transit service in eastern Ventura County. The City of Thousand Oaks serves as the fiscal agent and administers both program funding and payments for service delivery.
The City currently provides these ECTA related services through the City’s contracted transit operator, MV Transportation, Inc. (MV). In 2019, City Council awarded MV a transit operations agreement for fixed-route bus and Dial-A-Ride demand-response services under Contract No. 12072-2019, with an initial term
East County Transit Alliance Budget Adjustment FY 2025-26 June 23, 2026
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through June 30, 2023, for a not-to-exceed amount of $26,600,000. City Council subsequently approved four amendments to the agreement, including the First Amendment on June 1, 2020, the Second Amendment on December 17, 2021, the Third Amendment on June 6, 2023, which was a two year extension of the term through June 30, 2025; and the Fourth Amendment on September 10, 2024, which was a final two year extension through June 30, 2027 and increasing the total eight-year contract not-to-exceed amount to $43,038,278.75.
DISCUSSION/ANALYSIS:
ECTA paratransit services are funded through the ECTA Fund. Fiscal Year 2025- 26 service demand exceeded the level assumed in the Adopted FY 2025-26 Transit Budget, resulting in a projected budget shortfall. The $94,000 requested is approximately the average monthly cost to provide ECTA services for the City of Thousand Oaks.
MV charges the City based on a revenue hour model, which means a fixed rate of $125.68 per hour, per vehicle, operating in revenue service. The primary performance metric used to ensure MV operates the service efficiently is the Productivity Rate, measured as the number of trips served per revenue hour, called the ‘Productivity Rate’. The current contract minimum Productivity Rate is
1.7 trips per revenue hour.
In FY 2024-25, the Productivity Rate averaged 2.17. During FY 2025-26, the Productivity rate has averaged 1.92. The current Productivity Rate remains above the contract minimum but is lower than the level assumed during budget development.
Paratransit is a demand-based service, and productivity varies on ridership volume and trip patterns, of which are outside the control of the operator. In FY 2025-26, the concentration of trips decreased, due to longer trips, while ridership increased.
In November 2025, staff identified the need to increase the number of vehicles operating in revenue hour service to accommodate demand. This adjustment improved the ability for users to book trips and supported the on-time performance, but it reduced Productivity Rate, compared to the prior year.
Higher ridership and associated service demand, combined with the contracted service cost structure and lower than expected Productivity Rate, have combined to result in a projected $94,000 budget shortfall for FY 2025-26.
East County Transit Alliance Budget Adjustment FY 2025-26 June 23, 2026
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Staff recommends approving the requested budget appropriation increase to maintain service levels and support continued mobility for residents, employees, and visitors who rely on ECTA bus service. Sustaining service supports efficient regional transit operations by maintaining coordinated service delivery among participating agencies through a single fiscal agent and operating structure. Staff will continue to monitor ridership and operating costs and will update future budget assumptions to align expenditures with projected service levels.
COUNCIL GOAL COMPLIANCE:
Meets the following City Council goal:
C. Operate City government in a fiscally and managerially responsible and prudent manner to ensure that the City of Thousand Oaks remains one of California's most desirable places to live, work, visit, recreate, and raise a family.
PREPARED BY: Tyler Nestved, Assistant Transit Planner
DPW: 940-10\eat\Council\2026\062326\East County Transit Alliance Budget Adjustment FY 2025-26 staff report.docx